Lintz Bros. Pizza franchises

Lintz Bros. Pizza owner Brian Lintz displays a red hot mainstay of his popular Hermosa business which will see a franchise store opening soon in Chamberlain.

By Charley Najacht

Franchise documents are being drawn up and a group in Chamberlain has purchased a building for the first Lintz Bros. Pizza franchise store in the state, according to Brian Lintz, owner of the popular Lintz Bros. Pizza place in Hermosa.

“We’ve grown so much that some folks in Chamberlain want to start a franchise. We looked at their location and it’s a good one,” Lintz said.

“Our goal is to have at least five stores going across the state in the next five years,” Lintz said.

“We’re hoping to have everything together for an early summer opening, if possible, for the Chamberlain store,” he said.

“We’ve already had several families from Chamberlain stop to try our pizza and they went away happy,” Lintz said.

“When traveling with my wife, we always try out the ‘mom and pop’ pizza places. Some have come close, but none have matched the quality of Lintz Bros. Pizza,” he said.

Besides the closely-guarded dough recipe, Lintz Bros. has special spices in its homemade sauce. The supreme pizza with a full pound of cheese is one of the favorites on the menu.

Gluten-free crusts were also made available to customers several years ago and have proven to be popular with the growing wheat-free crowd. Lintz’s mother, Brenda, tweaked a recipe given to her by a friend to perfect the gluten-free crust.

A brand new pizza was recently added to the menu. It is a pulled pork pizza with sweet barbecue sauce, onion and mozzarella cheese with cole slaw as a topping.

“We’re tinkering around with desserts. We have found a way to have zero waste on our bread puddings,” Lintz said.

“We are also experimenting with dessert pizzas, like chocolate covered cherry. I always tell people that it’s made of love so it’s only half the calories,” he joked.

“We’re kind of going out of the norm which allows us to protect our products more and and provides a better framework for anyone starting a business,” Lintz said.

When Lintz first started the fledgling business in September 2005, he was still doing radio part-time in Rapid City.

“Shortly after we opened, I was there full-time. Since that time there was only one winter month where we didn’t have positive growth,” he said.

Last year in March, Lintz Bros. Pizza was voted the Number One Pizza Place in the Black Hills in a Rapid City Journal Starch Madness competition. From that point on, business really picked up for Lintz Bros.

“It was effective. It got a lot of people through the door,” Lintz said.

This growth led to an expansion and a $25,000 renovation at Lintz Bros. this past winter.

Laminate floors were added in the hallway, main dining area and party room. New bathrooms floors were installed. Fresh paint was applied and eight to10 more seats were added in the dining room to bring its capacity up to 45. New televisions were also added.

The party room can now hold 36 and there is additional outdoor seating on the west side for 20-25 patrons. This area was added the weekend before the annual motorcycle rally last year.

A wall was knocked out between a storage room and the kitchen to make a separate prep room for pizzas.

Last month, Lintz attended the annual International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas and put in an order for a new $23,000 pizza oven that will be faster and more energy efficient than the one he has been using.

The purchase took him back to his old radio days when he was making only $18,000 a year.

“I spent more in that one day on the oven than I made all year in my old radio days,” he said.

Lintz Bros. Pizza now has a wine license in addition to its beer license.

“We are on the list to be a distributor for Prairie Berry wine. We are now selling small individual bottles of the wine,” Lintz said.

Sports memorabelia from area high school teams will soon adorn the walls of the party room at Lintz Bros. in Hermosa. He is soliciting helmets and jerseys from nearby high schools for this purpose.

“We want area communities to have a stake in the restaurant. We want each store to have its own local identity,” Lintz said.

He said he envisions the store in Chamberlain to have an emphasis on fishing, since it will be located near the popular Missouri

River fishing venue.

Franchise documents are being drawn up and a group in Chamberlain has purchased a building for the first Lintz Bros. Pizza franchise store in the state, according to Brian Lintz, owner of the popular Lintz Bros. Pizza place in Hermosa.

“We’ve grown so much that some folks in Chamberlain want to start a franchise. We looked at their location and it’s a good one,” Lintz said.

“Our goal is to have at least five stores going across the state in the next five years,” Lintz said.

“We’re hoping to have everything together for an early summer opening, if possible, for the Chamberlain store,” he said.

“We’ve already had several families from Chamberlain stop to try our pizza and they went away happy,” Lintz said.

“When traveling with my wife, we always try out the ‘mom and pop’ pizza places. Some have come close, but none have matched the quality of Lintz Bros. Pizza,” he said.

Besides the closely-guarded dough recipe, Lintz Bros. has special spices in its homemade sauce. The supreme pizza with a full pound of cheese is one of the favorites on the menu.

Gluten-free crusts were also made available to customers several years ago and have proven to be popular with the growing wheat-free crowd. Lintz’s mother, Brenda, tweaked a recipe given to her by a friend to perfect the gluten-free crust.

A brand new pizza was recently added to the menu. It is a pulled pork pizza with sweet barbecue sauce, onion and mozzarella cheese with cole slaw as a topping.

“We’re tinkering around with desserts. We have found a way to have zero waste on our bread puddings,” Lintz said.

“We are also experimenting with dessert pizzas, like chocolate covered cherry. I always tell people that it’s made of love so it’s only half the calories,” he joked.

“We’re kind of going out of the norm which allows us to protect our products more and and provides a better framework for anyone starting a business,” Lintz said.

When Lintz first started the fledgling business in September 2005, he was still doing radio part-time in Rapid City.

“Shortly after we opened, I was there full-time. Since that time there was only one winter month where we didn’t have positive growth,” he said.

Last year in March, Lintz Bros. Pizza was voted the Number One Pizza Place in the Black Hills in a Rapid City Journal Starch Madness competition. From that point on, business really picked up for Lintz Bros.

“It was effective. It got a lot of people through the door,” Lintz said.

This growth led to an expansion and a $25,000 renovation at Lintz Bros. this past winter.

Laminate floors were added in the hallway, main dining area and party room. New bathrooms floors were installed. Fresh paint was applied and eight to10 more seats were added in the dining room to bring its capacity up to 45. New televisions were also added.

The party room can now hold 36 and there is additional outdoor seating on the west side for 20-25 patrons. This area was added the weekend before the annual motorcycle rally last year.

A wall was knocked out between a storage room and the kitchen to make a separate prep room for pizzas.

Last month, Lintz attended the annual International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas and put in an order for a new $23,000 pizza oven that will be faster and more energy efficient than the one he has been using.

The purchase took him back to his old radio days when he was making only $18,000 a year.

“I spent more in that one day on the oven than I made all year in my old radio days,” he said.

Lintz Bros. Pizza now has a wine license in addition to its beer license.

“We are on the list to be a distributor for Prairie Berry wine. We are now selling small individual bottles of the wine,” Lintz said.

Sports memorabelia from area high school teams will soon adorn the walls of the party room at Lintz Bros. in Hermosa. He is soliciting helmets and jerseys from nearby high schools for this purpose.

“We want area communities to have a stake in the restaurant. We want each store to have its own local identity,” Lintz said.

He said he envisions the store in Chamberlain to have an emphasis on fishing, since it will be located near the popular Missouri River fishing venue.